HISD teacher bonus system causes controversy

(1/26/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A lot of Houston school teachers just got paid a lot of money, and a lot of other teachers are upset about it. HISD's teacher bonus program is becoming a real problem.

Over the last two days, there's been talk of a sick-out, teachers organizing a petition and scores of angry blog postings and e-mails. All of this comes after HISD handed out $14 million in bonus money.

Of the more than 16,000 teachers, nurses, aides and other personnel eligible for a bonus, almost 8,000 received one. One hundred thirty-six got $5,000 or more.

You might think this bonus program sounds like a good way to reward our children's teachers. But it is not turning out that way.

Union leaders say morale is the lowest it's been in 20 years. In many cases, teachers who got the money aren't happy. Some who got big bonuses felt so bad for their colleagues who didn't, that they decided to share.

A special education teacher at Pin Oak Middle School, Andrea Rosen indirectly received a bonus as part of HISD's teacher performance pay plan.

She said, "Last night a friend of mine knocked at my door and gave me an envelope with money in it."

It contained more than $400 -- a third of what that teacher had received from the district.

"She said she got a bonus and felt I worked just as hard as she does and wanted to share hers with me," Rosen explained.

Rosen, in turn, decided to share the wealth and gave some money to her teacher's aide.

"Because my aide works as hard as I do," she explained.

Gayle Fallon of the Houston Federation of Teachers said, "This has wreaked havoc on our campuses."

The union has been inundated with angry phone calls and e-mails from teachers.

"We're spending all day calming people down who have every reason to be upset," Fallon explained.

One teacher wrote, "If the performance pay was designed to raise morale and reward teachers, it has failed miserably."

Another teacher makes the point, "It takes a village to teach a child. It should be equal pay for anyone working."

"The short term effect, I am happy," wrote another teacher. "Long term effect: fear-based competition against my colleagues will lead to anger and resentment."

HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said, "We think that most people are pretty happy with the system."

Abbott says administrators understand the concerns, but at the same time he explained, "We developed the system a year ago with input from teachers. And teachers have understood from the beginning that the design of this system was to give bonuses based on academic growth of children."

HISD Superintendent Dr. Abe Saavedra, who issued an apology on Thursday for any misunderstandings, is standing his ground. On Friday he said, "Everyone should understand, performance pay for teachers is here to stay."

Fallon said, "We're going to show him how many unhappy teachers we've got."

Tonight dozens of teachers are discussing how they'll do that as they meet over dinner at a local restaurant. Many plan to protest what they call an ill-designed plan by presenting a united front at a school board meeting next month. Andrea Rosen says she'll be there.

She said, "They need to know as whole, teachers want changes."

Union leaders are warning teachers they can be fired and lose their certification over any type of incident that's perceived as a strike. Instead of skipping work, they're encouraging disgruntled employees to speak out at the school board meeting February 8.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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